“Apple products are generally worth about twice as much as other devices at the same period in their lifecycle,” he said in a Gizmodo article published back in 2013.

Some Quick, Unscientific Research

This intrigued me, so I quickly did some research.

I turned to eBay, looking only at recently completed auctions. First I looked for my laptop: an early 2011 13 inch Macbook Pro with 500 GB of hard drive space, 4 GB of RAM and an i5 Intel processor. It’s nothing fancy, but I couldn’t find anything selling for less than $400 – and it wasn’t uncommon for them to sell for $600 or more. Even broken Macbooks sell for $250.

I also checked for my wife’s newer laptop, a Lenovo Ideapad u410 with 8 GB of RAM, 750 GB of hard-drive space and an i5 Processor. It was made in late 2012, and is is almost identical to my Macbook in terms of size and weight. The metal case is also similar. In spite of this, I couldn’t find any of these laptops selling for anything more than $500 – and it wasn’t uncommon for them to sell for as little as $250 (which, again, broken Macbooks were selling for).

This indicates there’s a range of prices where these laptops overlap. But overall my Macbook sells for more than my wife’s newer, and arguably nicer, Ideapad. You can do your own research, if you like, but generally you’ll find the same conclusion: Macs sell for more than PCs with similar specs.

Supply And Demand Is What’s At Work

Why is that? As with any price, supply and demand are the two factors here. And they both work toward higher prices for used Macs. A quick summary:

Low Supply: Apple sells a lot of Macs, but there are still way more PCs out there overall. If you’re looking for a used Mac, you’re buying from a smaller pool of sellers than someone open to buying a PC.

High Demand: Lots of people want Macs, and if you want to spend less than $899 for a laptop then you’ll need to buy used.

Higher Initial Cost

Let’s get this out of the way: part of this has to do with up-front cost. This is debatable if you only compare high-end PCs to Macs (Apple doesn’t compete at all in the low-end market, with only a few products aimed at mid-market), but it’s true overall: Macs cost more.

This explains, in part, why used Macs sell for more. But it’s hardly the whole story: Macs tend to hold more of their initial value than PCs.

“Apple products are generally worth about twice as much as other devices at the same period in their lifecycle,” says Trachsel.

If you want to buy a laptop for $500, you’ve got a lot of choice. There’s the used market, sure: you might be able to find an older high-end laptop for that price if you dig long enough. But there are also plenty of brand new laptops you can buy for $500 or less. They’re not top-of-the-line, sure, but they come with warranties and that new laptop smell people love so much. Lots of people will look at these laptops before even considering the used market.

This is great news for Apple, but still means that for every 14 Macs sold there are 86 PCs from other vendors. If fewer people own Macs overall, it stands to reason that fewer people will be selling their used Macs later – meaning the supply of used Macs on the market is much lower than that of other PCs. Combined with the higher demand for used Macs, you can see why the higher prices persist.

Again: it’s a seller’s market.

Will This Trend Continue?

I’m simply trying to explain a trend that I’ve noticed – but I could be missing something. I’d love it if you could offer your own explanations in the comments below.

But I also want to talk to anyone who’s upset by what I’m suggesting. You might not agree that Macs should sell for more than other PCs – and you’ve probably got a good point. Comparing only specs, and arguably even build quality, the prices should be closer. But the market doesn’t lie, and right now used Macs sell for more than used PCs.

So I want to know: do you think this will hold up? Why, or why not? Let’s discuss.

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pixturesk

May 27, 2017 at 10:09 am

I have one simple rule when buying an iMac, the only Mac I use, buy it "USED". I am not into the latest + greatest. My iMac is my only piece of Apple hardware. I refuse to become trapped in either the Apple or Google eco-system. At least in my area, in Ontario, Canada, there are always iMacs for sale, many of which are in excellent shape, I am writing this from my early 2008 iMac (4gigs ram, 1tb) running Mountain Lion, a perfect marriage, all that I require.

Well, a fool is born everyday....that's really the only logical explanation, here. Just because some moron is willing to pay $600+ for an obsolete machine (or $250 for a broken one, wtf?) doesn't mean they aren't getting ripped off.

In 2007 I bought a used 2004 Powerbook in excellent condition for $700 on craigslist and (somehow) used it as my primary computer until it finally crapped out in 2013 (it was always getting really hot). If I knew how to fix things, I maybe could have saved it before it went dead, but It seemed time to get a new one. I bought a new one almost immediately (a 2012 model macbook pro) and it's still working fine, no issues. I will never buy used mac again, unless money is seriously tight, mostly due to lack of warranty, though.

When you think about laptops, its pretty easy, macbook pros have much higher quality hardware (keyboard, mousepad, screen, wifi adaptor, power supply connectivity with magnets, external battery life indicator, all case brushed metal) than others, even if the internal components are mostly the same as PCs.

I am a PC user, and alway have been, I am also a programmer, and when it comes to laptops, I always choose macs. I bought a 800 euro (near 1000 dollar) pc for my girlfriend and I think it was my worst purchase of all time, I could have and should have spent an extra 100-200 euro and get her an equivalent performant but much better overall macbook pro.

And all of this is regardless of operating system, my home PC (not a mac, hackintosh if you will) is running MacOSX and Windows because the hardware you interact with (30' ips monitor, tenkenless matias-mechanical keyboard, high precision mionix laser mouse, etc) are all top of the line, carefully and individually chosen, its perfect for a setup where you have all components in modular fashion.

But if you must choose a complete and ready package and want high quality components you will usually end up buying a macbook pro or similar, their mouse pad is unmatched, and their keyboards are good, include backlighting (could probably be improved by finding a way to cram a mechanical keyboard into the laptop, but thats probably going to ruin the laptop-iness of it).

Back in 2009, in my university here in Portugal, there was still a ton of hate towards mac users, mostly because its/was viewed as a elite-only product, and you will get hate because of that fact only. People will label you as a mac-fanboy and completely ignore the why behind the choosing of a macbook instead of some other full-plasticky laptop.

PROTIP: call them "power cord huggers", because they must use their "transportables" (barely-portable, humongous-ly big laptops) with the power cord lagging behind them that usually dont last more than an hour on batery. Or even "wall socket hunters", again for the same reason. Pair it with "wireless signal hunters" since I could have 70% signal in the middle of the courtyard while they barely had any inside the classrooms.

John Wiliams to the contrary, there is a difference between a wine from the Napa Valley and the same producer's same grape offer from Sonoma. Whether the quality difference justifies the price difference only the buyer knows for sure.

Under the trimmings, the Ford Escape and Lincoln MKC are the same car - but till each goes to the crusher, the Lincoln will always command the higher price. They started that way and will ontinue that way. That's market reality.

I have never found anything an Apple can do better for me than my PC does - that's just how I use a computer. YMMV.
If you think you can get enough extra goodness from a Mac to justify paying the Apple tax - feel free, go for it. Just don't get snooty with those whose experience is different.

I sold our two iPads and my wife is using my old 4S. I was tired of the 'walled' garden and use Android for personal devices now. But, I know many people who don't want to fiddle around and midst use iPads or for started with the spinning disk iPods.

Like the Mac though, they don't need to be worked on.

If iTunes wasn't so bad there would be many more Apple users. Terrible to deal with.

Apple was quite close to dying around the time Steve Jobs took over – they were actually bailed out by Microsoft, if you can believe it. The turnaround started with the iMac, but Apple only became a hugely successful company with the iPod. So to answer you: they probably wouldn't be around without it.

My first is still working just fine. It's a macbook pro - mid 1999. Free, from my home insurance tornado claim. It also came with a free iPod and shipping. My son still uses the iPod. I upgraded the memory and put a SSD drive in it, replaced the DVD with a 1T 7200 drive. The only "maintenance" I've done was out a NOS Apple battery in it. Windows 7 runs pretty well and the Yosemite does a great job.

The first iPod didn't come out until 2001, and there is no way you're running Yosemite on a Mac made before 2005 – PowerPC processors don't play nicely with it. Maybe you're not remembering the year properly?

There's no fathoming why people pay double the price for devices that have the same functionality. It's safe to say though, that people are so desperate for the kudos that owning an Apple product appears to give them, that they would rather own a pre-loved Apple than a brand new higher spec device.

An example is the wine business. People are buying the label, the snob value, the bouquet, the terroir, the je ne sais quas. Some undefinable "something" that sets this wine up as better than that and lay it down in dusty cellars like gold bars.

For comedy value, the very same CD or black plastic LP that Joe Public can buy miraculously sounds better when played through 500 Dollar speaker cables - that's the cables, not the rest of the gear.

If you pay more - even second hand, you instinctively convince yourself that you have something "special" - well relatively special, only 14 out of a 100 can have it. Like the HiFi though, it's still the same internet, wifi and phonecall everyone else gets.

There are many, many places in the world where no-one actually knows what a real Apple product looks like. 2nd user Apple really is a first world exclusive issue. In the land of fake Rolex, any silver Chromebook with an Apple sticker can be used to fleece the gullible. Like the old Rolls Royce in Bangladesh, it will sit in the dealership for years and years. No-one could ever possibly afford it - even secondhand.

The situation is anlogous to cars. If you buy a high priced car, you will want more for it when you sell it, even if it is beat up and rusted out. A used BMW 745 in poor condition will cost more than a the same year used Hyundai Sonata in excellent condition. But then a Bimmer is a status symbol while the Hyundai is just transportation. You pay for the perception.

"I sincerely enjoy using OS X more than I do Windows 8"
Bad example. I think most people would choose OS/X over Win 8.

Windows and OS/X basically offer the same functionality and applications. Apple does have the beautiful design on its side. But is the design enough to justify the premium one pays for basically the same functionality as the ugly products?

It's not just that the design looks nice, to me – it's that it works better. For me. I don't care about how people think of me – I mostly work at home, and use the laptop there. I've covered the logo with a sticker, because I hate the branding. I'm actually kind of embarrassed to own a Mac, because of the status thing, but I have it because I think it works better and I'm willing to pay the difference (though I did buy mine used, took a while to find a deal I liked).

I don't believe the trend will continue. Apple has locked them down. Preventing battery, ram and hard drives from being switched on some of their newer computers. Apple has made their computers disposable.

Not all rainbows, unicorns, and fuzzy puppies in the orchard; you have an old Macbook that can't be upgraded to the latest OS/X - may as well have a paperweight. I can cram Win 7 on a boatload of "old" PCs around the house. Or some flavor of Linux. Not so with wifey's Macbook.

And don't get me started on the iPad Air I was gifted - my Samsung smartphone is more useful, just nowhere near as much the status symbol.

This seems right on. I'm looking for a Mac right now - not because I prefer them over Windows, but because I want to release my apps on iOS. I'm gonna end up paying twice as much as I would on a similar Windows system, but hey - I need one. What can ya do?

The problem with Apple products is that only Apple makes them and if one likes them, one has to buy them from Apple. Very few components can be swapped out with a third party units. When a part breaks in a used Mac, sourcing the replacement part will be limited as well. I just prefer to have choices, at least more than one choice.

Nice article.This is definitely worth more investigation, but for now: Great work!

The status of an Apple product stays higher than any other brand. This is an aspect of consumer preferences. I think much people associate owning a Mac with having a higher status in life. It maybe sounds silly, and it can happen unconscious, but it certainly plays a role in choosing products to buy.

Economics isn't always about numbers, graphs,... there's definitely a lot of psychology involved as well. And that's what makes it more interesting. "How will people react to a price change on this brand vs another one?". In this case, people are willing to pay more for a brand like Apple, just because it's Apple. It's luxury, even if they put some med-range specs in a high-range price. But that's just my opinion.

I'm not that kind of an Apple fan because 1, I can't afford it to spend so much money for less specs. And 2, in my current lifestyle, Windows fits a lot better than Mac OS.

That "psychology" can be quantified as a higher demand graph through brand recognition and marketing.

I own a mac and am still a PC person at heart but I don't regret my purchase decision. Firstly, I was able to get my mac heavily discounted. Just because you don't know where to get good deals and when to get them, doesn't mean they're always overpriced. Secondly, my MacBook Air holds the longest charge I have ever seen in any PC laptop I have ever owned. By the time I purchase a laptop with a 12 cell battery, it'd be more clunky and expensive as a Macbook Air. On top of that, the weight on most PCs are simply much heavier than the Aluminum chassis. All I'm saying is there is some merit to these purchase decisions instead of it all being psychology.

I think it might also have something to do with the fact that Apple products don't change a whole lot from version to version.

Granted, I've never owned one (and frankly couldn't justify the price even if I wanted one) but it seems like the macs of today don't really look/behave much different from the macs of a few years ago. Whereas with windows computers theres always a radically different OS and a different 'new' design to draw people in.

You really have to define what kind of change this is. If you're talking about OS and Chassis design, probably only slightly. However I'm sure the hardware changes at the same rate (albeit higher in price) as the rest of the industry.

I still use my 2003 era PowerPC dual 1.8 workstation (still chugging along after 10+ years). It has been mostly replaced by my newer 27" iMac but it still runs Photoshop CS2, Illustrator CS2, Indesign CS2, Microsoft Office 2004, etc just fine...and it will always remain VIRUS FREE! So basically it is a backup that wont ever lose its value to me!

1. Support && upgrades.
2. Hardware and Software integration.
When I initially started using laptops I was frustrated by the speed of the laptop. Because different manufacturer's uses different quality of the hardwares. In begining days all laptops looks great and awesome, after 6 months or 1 year heavy use they kind of sucks with a reason.

Same hardware but slower performance except IBM Thinkpads.

When It comes to apple I have noticed the same characteristics as well but it takes 2.5 to 3 years to notice the aformentioned issue.

Let's do simple math
I would say buying an apple Mac is safe for 3 good years for moderate user. But laptops are not just good enough except Thinkpads.

9/10 when people say they have a hardware issue, it's not a hardware issue. Your hardware should not be wearing out in a year. You should try rebooting the system before shelling out another 1000 dollars for a new one

Justin Pot is a technology journalist based in Portland, Oregon. He loves technology, people and nature – and tries to enjoy all three whenever possible. You can chat with Justin on Twitter, right now.